Individual Case (CAS) - Discussion: 2019, Publication: 108th ILC session (2019)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Ethiopia (Ratification: 1999)



Written information provided by the Government

Background

The Government of Ethiopia is requested to supply full particulars to the Conference at its 108th Session and to reply in full to the comments made by the Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS) with regard to the application of the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138).

Accordingly, the Government of Ethiopia took due note of the observations of the CAS with regard to the application of Convention No. 138 and wishes to reply in full on the necessary measures taken and progress made in view of the comments of the CAS on the application of the Convention in point.

1. National context

Ethiopia, with an estimated population of 100 million, is the second most populous country in Africa. It has a growing young population and children under 15 years of age account for more than a third of the total population.

The country is on a reform journey to ensure peace, democracy and good governance, and to realize broad-based, inclusive and sustained economic growth. To this effect, the Government has been fully committed and making significant progress to improve the well-being of Ethiopian people and expedite the country’s march toward middle-income status by 2025. Over the last decade and a half, the Ethiopian economy has registered a double-digit growth rate and in recent years dubbed as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. During this time, significant attention has been given to upgrading economic and social infrastructure and promoting pro-poor spending on education, health, and other services to improve the well-being of the people.

On the labour front, the Government has been working in close collaboration with the UN agencies, social partners and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to address issues that are related to child labour, forced labour and human trafficking. There have been significant policy developments and public awareness concerning child labour, forced labour and human trafficking in the country. The National Action Plan to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour and the Young Worker’s Directive are among the legal instruments adopted since 2013.

In 2015, a comprehensive anti-trafficking law was passed by the Parliament to tighten existing anti-trafficking legislation, punish trafficking offences, and provide support to victims of trafficking, including children. The Overseas Employment Proclamation also calls for penalties for illegal recruitment, increases oversight of overseas recruitment agencies, and extends more protection to potential victims.

With the above country background, achievements and progress made in advancing the application of Convention No. 138 in Ethiopia is provided in the following section taking into account the observations of the CAS.

2. Progress made in the application of the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)

2.1. Article 2(1) of the Convention: Scope of application and application in practice

The first observation made by the Committee is that there are gaps between the scope of application of the Convention and the domestic laws, particularly the Labour Law as it does not protect all children under 14 years of age, particularly children working outside the formal employment relationship, such as children working on their own account or in the informal economy, who would have benefited from the protection laid down by the Convention.

In this regard, the Government is called upon to review the relevant provisions of the Labour Law so as to address these gaps and to take the necessary measures to strengthen the capacity and expand the reach of the labour inspectorate to the informal economy with a view to protecting the rights of workers in general and those of children in particular in this sector.

Having taken note of the observations of the Committee with regard to the gaps between the scope of application of the Convention and the application in practice, the Government wishes to provide the following information on progress made so far in connection with the comments made by the Committee:

(a) With the purview of the Labour Law, there is an initiative by the Government to extend labour advisory services in the informal sector towards filling the gaps between the scope of application of the Convention and the application in practice with the aim of protecting the rights of all workers, including young workers, and of avoiding children working outside formal employment relationships, such as those working on their own account or in the informal economy.

(b) The Government is also making all possible efforts to strengthen the labour inspectorate system in the country so as to ensure that such services are effectively accessible to all enterprises and workplaces and to ensure the full application of the Convention and the enforcement of domestic labour laws with more focus on child labour and forced labour.

(c) The Government’s initiative regarding the national child labour survey (2015) should also be considered as a positive step, as the survey results provide reliable and timely information for taking informed policy measures with regard to child labour. Therefore, the Government is of the view that the national survey on child labour is an achievement in itself.

2.2. Article 2(3). Age of completion of compulsory schooling

Considering that compulsory education is one of the most effective means of combating child labour, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to provide for compulsory education up to the minimum age of admission to employment of 14 years. The Committee also requests the Government to intensify its efforts to increase school enrolment rates and decrease drop-out rates at the primary level with a view to preventing children under 14 years of age from being engaged in work.

The improvement and expansion of primary education has been high on the development agenda of governments and bilateral and multilateral organizations. An important step in this regard has clearly been the declaration made by the UN in making primary education a “universal human right”, followed by the inclusion of a right to education in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other legally binding treaties.

Recognizing the right to education as a human right, Ethiopia is a party to many of the international conventions and treaties, and has, therefore, shown efforts in harmonizing national legislation with the provisions of the various international treaties to fulfil its obligations in the education sector. Ethiopia is committed to achieving primary Education for All (EFA) and is working tirelessly in expanding access, minimizing wastage in education (efficiency), ensuring equity and improving quality of education. The Government has given top priority to achieving universal and quality primary education for all school-age children and its determination is clearly stated in the education and training policy and in the Education Sector Development Programme strategies (ESDP).

In implementing the education and training policy and the ESDP and through the commitment to realize universalization of primary education, the following results have been achieved in Ethiopia:

(a) the number of primary schools has increased from 33,373 in 2014–15 to 36,466 in 2017–18;

(b) the net enrolment rate (NER) was raised from 94.3 per cent in 2014–15 to 100 per cent in 2017–18, implying that the NER target for primary level has been fully achieved;

(c) with regard to efficiency of primary education, gender parity index (GPI) was raised from about 0.7 in 1999–2000 to 0.9 in 2017–18 while the drop-out rate was improved from 18 per cent in 2008–09 to 9 per cent in 2013–14.

The national child labour survey report (2015) revealed that the school attendance rate of children in the age cohort 5–17 was 61.3 per cent. However, it would be worth nothing that those children out of school and drop-outs in pastoral areas do not necessarily work due to the fact that those children are moving from one place to another with their families (because of their lifestyle) and can have access to “mobile schools” that are made available for children of pastoral communities.

Furthermore, children out of school and drop-outs, particularly in rural areas (due to different factors), may stay at home with their families rather than look for a job, as there is great social and cultural value attached to children by parents.

That said, however, there are certain issues – such as accessibility, equity, efficiency, quality and financing of primary education – that have to be further examined and improved so as to ensure the goal of primary education for all is achieved and sustained in Ethiopia.

2.3. Article 3. Minimum age for admission to, and determination of, hazardous work, and application in practice

The Committee observes that a significant number of children under 18 years of age are engaged in hazardous work and urges the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure that, in practice, children under 18 years of age are not engaged in hazardous work in either urban or rural areas. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information in this regard. The Committee further requests the Government to indicate whether a new list of types of hazardous work was adopted and to supply a copy.

The Government takes note of the observations of the Committee with regard to minimum age for admission to hazardous work and application in practice, and wishes to provide the following information on progress made in addressing the issues in point.

(a) The recently revised national Labour Law, which was submitted to the competent authority for possible adoption, raises the minimum working age limit of young persons from 14 to 15 years and excludes them from the labour market with the intention of protecting their well-being. Accordingly, the age limits of young workers as per the revised Labour Law will be in the age cohort 15–17 while it is 14–17 in the prevailing Labour Law. The revision of the Labour Law in this regard can serve to withdraw children that are already engaged in hazardous work and to prohibit new entries in such works.

(b) As raised by the Committee, a directive that prescribes the list of activities prohibited to young workers was revised in consultation with social partners and issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in 2013 and has been applied since then.

3. Request for ILO technical support

Experience has shown that full and sustained application of the Convention in all economic activities of the country requires a vibrant and well-functioning labour inspectorate system. Furthermore, social dialogue and tripartite consultation can also be instrumental forums for the effective implementation of the Convention.

In view of this, the Government strongly requests ILO support for strengthening the national labour inspectorate system (for instance, digitalizing labour inspection services) and building the institutional capacities of the constituents for their full and effective engagement in the application of the Convention.

4. Conclusion

From the information provided above, the Government of Ethiopia is of the view that commendable progress and achievements have been made (in line with the comments and observations made by the Committee) towards advancing the application of Convention No. 138 in the country, although there are still some areas for improvement.

The Government of Ethiopia would like to seize this opportunity to express its commitment for the full application of the Convention in point and other ILO instruments to the extent possible. Technical support of the ILO and other development partners to Ethiopia in this regard are also of crucial importance for achieving social justice and decent work for all.

Finally, if the information provided in this report does not satisfy the Committee’s expectations in light of its observations on the application of the Convention in point, the Government of Ethiopia is ready to supply any additional information as required.

Discussion by the Committee

Government representative – I am taking the floor to provide information on progress made in light of the observations and comments made by the Committee on the Application of Standards with regard to the application of Convention No. 138 in Ethiopia. My Government took note of the observations of the Committee of Experts pertaining to the application of the Convention in Ethiopia based on a CSA standalone survey data in 2015 and published in December 2018. I just would like to provide necessary information on measures that are being taken and progress made in this regard after the survey was conducted. We highly value the importance of the ILO supervisory mechanism as a unique platform for assessing the application of labour standards in a manner that takes into account the universality, interdependence and indivisibility of human rights and labour rights. For a country like Ethiopia, which is undergoing a process of profound reform recently aimed at revitalizing the enjoyment of human rights, especially that of child rights, this platform will offer us a great opportunity to deliberate upon and learn from the progress we have made and the challenges that we have faced in our endeavour to protect labour rights in general and child rights in particular. It is with this spirit that I am going to deliver my intervention.

Ethiopia, with an estimated population of 100 million, is the second most populous country in Africa; and the country is experiencing a growing young population and children under 15 years of age that accounts for more than one third of the total population. The Constitution of Ethiopia, which is the supreme law of the land, incorporated the international human rights, including child rights instruments, ratified by Ethiopia into the national laws of the country. Furthermore, various national laws such as the Civil Code, the Criminal Code, the Family Code, and the Labour Law contain provisions protecting children from child labour. A comprehensive anti-trafficking law was also passed by the Parliament to tighten existing anti-trafficking legislation, punish trafficking offences, and provide support to victims of trafficking including children. Our national law on overseas employment also calls for penalties for illegal recruitment, increases oversight of overseas recruitment agencies, and extends more protection to potential victims, including children.

Ethiopia also subscribes to the international instruments which are specifically concerned with the protection of the rights of children such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), 1989; the ILO’s Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138); the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182); and the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), just to mention a few.

We also have national policies and programmes that deal with child labour, including the National Social Protection Policy, National Employment Policy, the National Occupational Safety and Health Policy, the Education and Training Policy, the National Plan of Action for Children, the National Plan of Action on Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children and the National Action Plan on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL), among others.

Though we have comprehensive and robust laws and policies at hand, still we are facing challenges in implementing them fully as it has been expected to be. Now, Ethiopia is on a reform journey to ensure peace, democracy and good governance, and to realize an inclusive and sustained growth. To this effect, the Government has been fully committed and making significant progress to improve the well-being of the Ethiopian people and expedite the country’s march towards middle-income level by 2025. During this time, significant attention has been given to upgrading economic and social infrastructure and expanding pro-poor spending on education, health and other services to improve the well-being of the people. The Government of Ethiopia strongly believes that through strengthening the social protection system and reforming the system in place to protect children from labour exploitation is the priority agenda of the Government to create a prosperous and stable nation.

With the above brief background on the reform that is taking place in Ethiopia, let me now revert to the achievements and progress made in advancing the application of the Convention in Ethiopia in view of the observations of the Committee. Concerning the observation of the Committee of Experts with respect to the gap between the scope of application of the Convention and the domestic laws, the Government is called for to review the relevant provisions of the Labour Law so as to address these gaps and to take necessary measures to strengthen the capacity and expand the reach of the labour inspectorate to the informal economy with a view to protect the rights of labour in general and that of children under 15 years of age in particular in this sector. The Labour Law under revision has been approved by the Cabinet and expected to be ratified by the Parliament very soon. In this regard, I wish to bring to the attention of the Committee that due to socio-cultural and economic differences around the world, addressing the issues of child labour remains a challenge not only for Ethiopia but also for the rest of the world, particularly for developing countries. That said, however, the Government is taking all possible measures to address child labour issues in Ethiopia.

Firstly, concerted efforts are made to strengthen the labour inspectorate system in the country so as to ensure that such services are effectively accessible to all enterprises and workplaces towards the full application of the Convention and the enforcement of national laws with more focus on child labour, forced labour and human trafficking. Secondly, there is an ongoing initiative to extend labour advisory services in the informal sector towards filling the gap between the scope of application of the Convention and the application of domestic laws, with the aim to protect the rights of all workers including young workers, and prevent children under 15 years of age working outside a formal employment relationship such as those working on their own account or in the informal economy. Thirdly, there is a supportive legal and policy framework in the country to facilitate the transition of the informal economy to the formal economy so that labour inspection services can be accessible to this sector.

The second observation of the Committee is concerned with compulsory education. Recognizing that the right to education is a human right, Ethiopia is committed to achieve primary Education for All (EFA) and to this end the Government is working tirelessly in expanding access to education, minimizing wastage, ensuring equity and improving quality of education, which is clearly stated in the Education and Training Policy and in the Education Sector Development Programs (ESDP). The implementation of the Education and Training Policy and the Education Sector Development Programs, in conjunction with the national development plans, has witnessed the achievements of the following results in Ethiopia: (i) the number of primary schools has increased from 33,373 in 2014–15 to 36,466 in 2017–18; (ii) net enrolment rates have increased from 94.3 per cent in 2014–15 to nearly 100 per cent in 2017–18, with a gender parity index (GPI) of 0.9, which implies that more has to be done to improve girls’ participation in primary education; (iii) the primary education drop-out rate has slightly improved from 11.7 per cent in 2015–16 to 11.3 per cent in 2016–17. Again, it implies the need for improving the quality of primary education in the country.

The aforementioned progress has been achieved by the strong commitment of the Government through making significant interventions so far. Among different interventions, the School Feeding Programme has been taken as one of the flagship programmes for primary school children. The evidence demonstrates that school feeding, supplemented by specific interventions targeted particularly at girl students, has significantly improved inclusiveness, participation and achievements in education. More specifically, enhanced school enrolment and a more favourable gender parity index is achieved and dropouts and grade repetition rates are consistently reduced. Considering that poverty is one of the factors inhibiting children from attending schools, our Government, in collaboration with different development partners, established a programme known as the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) aimed at enabling the rural poor facing chronic food insecurity to resist shocks, create assets and become food self-sufficient. Similarly, we have developed an urban Productive Safety Net Programme to improve income of targeted poor households and establish rural–urban safety net mechanisms that helped to put a social protection system in place, which has a positive impact on the livelihoods of households and increased utilization of education. Moreover, to address the gap in access to and quality of education, recently the Ethiopian Education Development Roadmap for the period 2018–2030 was developed and under discussion with the aim to enhance the country’s education system. On the other hand, as mobility is an inherent lifestyle and means to survive of the pastoralist and semi-pastoralist communities in Ethiopia, mobile schools among other Alternative Basic Education (ABE) modalities have become an alternative way of providing education for out-of-school and hard-to-reach children in such communities. That said, however, there are issues such as accessibility, equity, efficiency, quality and financing of primary education that should be further looked at and improved so that the goal of primary education for all is achieved and sustained in Ethiopia.

The third and final observation of the Committee is related to the minimum age for admission to, and determination of, hazardous work and application in practice. In this regard, I wish to provide the following information on progress made in addressing the issue in point: (i) the recently revised national Labour Law, which is submitted to the concerned authority for possible adoption, raises the minimum working age limit of young persons from 14 to 15 years and excludes them from the labour market with the intention to protect their well-being. Accordingly, the age limits of young workers as per the revised Labour Law will be in the age cohort 15–17. The revisions of the Labour Law in this regard serves to withdraw children that are already engaged in hazardous work and to prohibit new entries in such works; and (ii) as requested by the Committee, a directive that prescribes the list of activities prohibited to young workers was revised in consultation with the social partners and issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in 2013, and it has been applied since then. The copy of the list is ready for submission to the Committee.

We learnt that full and sustained application of the Convention in all economic activities of the country calls for a vibrant and well-functioning labour inspectorate system, and effective tripartite social dialogue. To this effect, we look forward to the ILO’s technical support in the full application of the Convention. There is also a need for ILO support in our endeavour to transform the informal economy to the formal economy. Based on the information that I have tried to provide above, my Government is of the view that significant progress has been made, in line with the comments and observations of the Committee towards advancing the application of the Convention in Ethiopia, although there are still areas for improvement.

Finally, I would like to seize this opportunity to affirm the commitment of my Government for the full application of the Convention in point and other ILO instruments to the extent possible. We believe that the ILO’s technical support and other development partners’ assistance in this regard are of great importance for advancing social justice and promoting decent work for all. As Ethiopia is a founding member of ILO, we are ambitious to end child labour and to ensure no one is left behind to make the future of work human-centred that ensures rights of all humankind.

Worker members – Combating the economic exploitation of children is at the heart of the ILO’s mandate. This has been a central concern of the ILO ever since it was founded. In 1919, a first standard regulating the minimum age for admission to employment in the industrial sector was already adopted, and over the years the number of international standards relating to the minimum age has increased in many sectors.

Convention No. 138, with its inter-sectoral scope, was adopted in 1973. This instrument invites member States to adopt a national policy aimed at ensuring the effective abolition of child labour. Fixing a minimum age for admission to employment ensures that children are in a position to attend school, regulates the forms of economic activity which they are allowed to perform, and protects their health and safety. This Convention embodies the deep-seated conviction of ILO constituents that childhood must be a period of life devoted to physical and mental development, not a period spent working.

Like almost all member States of our Organization, Ethiopia has also ratified Convention No. 138. The application of this Convention by Ethiopia forms the subject of the Committee of Experts’ observations since 2009 and direct requests since 2003. This year too, the Committee of Experts made observations relating to Ethiopia’s application of Convention No. 138. The Committee of Experts also considered that the case of Ethiopia should be a “double-footnoted” case, underlining the seriousness and persistence of the problem.

The informal economy represents a large proportion of Ethiopia’s economy, and it is within the informal economy that child labour occurs. The figures revealed by the 2015 survey, published in 2018, are extremely challenging. According to this survey, over 13 million children between 5 and 13 years of age were working. This means that a significant proportion of children working in the world are Ethiopian children. The vast majority of these children were, and probably still are, occupied in sectors of activity such as agriculture, forestry and fishing, all of which are particularly dangerous sectors.

The Convention applies to all persons performing an economic activity, whether or not this is within an employment relationship and whether or not it is paid. Hence workers in the informal economy and those working on their own account are both concerned. In contravention of this fundamental principle of the Convention, section 89-2 of the Labour Law of 1993 (Proclamation 42), which prohibits the employment of persons under 14 years of age, does not cover work performed outside an employment relationship. This is a gap which must be filled as quickly as possible.

The Government of Ethiopia indicates that the Ethiopian Constitution guarantees the right of all children, without discrimination, to be protected against all forms of exploitation, irrespective of whether they are employees, working on their own account or occupied in the informal economy. The provisions of a Constitution are often couched in general terms, and it would be useful to state explicitly and precisely how the provisions of the Labour Law apply to child labour in the informal economy. The Government also indicates that tools are at the disposal of the inspection services to combat the economic exploitation of children. It would be interesting to have statistics relating to the findings of the inspection services in Ethiopia with regard to child labour.

Although we do not doubt the sincerity of the Ethiopian Government’s commitments at the international level arising from the ratification of Convention No. 138, the results of the 2015 survey nevertheless demonstrate that child labour still exists on a massive scale in Ethiopia. The Government’s initiatives to equip the inspection services are welcome but unfortunately remain completely inadequate. As it has been invited to do by the Committee of Experts, the Ethiopian Government needs to strengthen its body of legislation for combating child labour by reviewing the Labour Law in order to fill the gaps in it and also needs to strengthen the capacity of the labour inspectorate, particularly to boost its action in the informal economy.

There is a very close link between education and the issue of the minimum age for admission to employment. Depriving children of the possibility of education and training seriously damages their prospects of social progress and increases the risk of them being drawn into the world of work far too early. Compulsory schooling is the most effective means of combating child labour. It is therefore crucial that compulsory schooling is introduced at least until the minimum age for admission to employment, namely 14 years. However, it appears that primary education is not compulsory in Ethiopia, and so the school enrolment rate is very low. According to UNICEF figures, although slightly over six out of ten children are in primary education, this proportion drops to slightly over one in ten children for secondary education. This is a source of extreme concern. However, the Government indicates that it is drafting a bill aimed at making primary education compulsory. We hope that this bill will materialize very soon and will be effectively implemented in order to reverse the trends observed until now.

The Convention also provides that the minimum age for admission to hazardous work shall be 18 years. However, it appears from the findings of the 2015 survey that nearly one in five children between 5 and 17 years of age is employed in hazardous work. This proportion is particularly high in rural areas. Apart from the dangerous nature of the work itself, these children are exposed to dangers arising from their conditions of work, such as very long working hours, work at night, work in an insalubrious environment or work using dangerous equipment.

It is very clear that there is a great number of risks to which very young, growing children are exposed. The physical and psychological consequences of an accident occurring at a young age can be devastating and irreversible. For this reason it is essential that young children should be kept away from performing hazardous work.

Ethiopia’s body of legislation includes a decree containing a detailed list of hazardous types of work which young workers are not allowed to perform. A general ban on all other types of work likely to jeopardize the health or morals of young workers is also laid down in this decree. The Government also indicates that it is revising the list of hazardous types of work. We hope that this revision has been taking place in close consultation with the representative organizations of workers and employers, as provided for in Article 3(2) of the Convention. Apart from the revision of this list, we hope that measures will also be implemented to ensure that no child under 18 years of age is employed in hazardous work in practice.

Employer members – The Employers’ group would like to thank the Government for the written submissions that were made, as well as for the information submitted here today, and would also like to thank the Workers for their submissions here today.

As the Worker members said, this is a case involving Convention No. 138, which Ethiopia ratified back in 1999. And today marks the first time that the CAS is examining Ethiopia’s application of this very important fundamental instrument in law and in practice. We note though that the Committee of Experts has made four observations in the past on Ethiopia’s application of this Convention in 2009, 2010 and 2011, as well as in 2014. Ethiopia has been a member of the ILO since 1923 and it has ratified, in total, 23 instruments to date, including all of the eight fundamental Conventions. And being the second most populous nation in Africa, with around 110 million people, according to the latest United Nations estimates, Ethiopia does face many significant development challenges.

We note that Ethiopia received support from the ILO Decent Work Country Programme between 2014 and 15 to improve implementation of international labour standards and social dialogue, to promote decent employment as a means towards poverty eradication, and to improve social protection for sustainable development. Furthermore, we note that Ethiopia has adopted the National Action Plan to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour and the Young Workers Directive since 2013.

The Committee of Experts have observed three issues in respect of Ethiopia’s application of the Convention, and we will discuss them individually in turn. The first one relates to the scope of application and the application in practice of the Convention and here we are looking at Article 2(1) in particular. The Experts have observed that there is a gap between the scope of application of the Convention and the domestic laws in Ethiopia, with a high number of children under the minimum age working in the informal economy and mostly as unpaid family workers. Article 2(1) states that each member which ratifies the Convention shall specify, in a declaration appended to its ratification, a minimum age for admission to employment or work within its territory, and subject to Articles 4 to 8 of this Convention no one under that age shall be admitted to employment or work in any occupation.

The Experts indicated some alarming figures from the 2015 ILO Child Labour Survey. More than 13 million children between the ages of 5 and 13 are working in sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fishing, as well as the wholesale and retail trade. The majority of these children, about 95.5 per cent, performing economic activities were working as unpaid family workers.

The Government noted in its report that the Constitution offers children the right to be protected from any form of exploitative labour and that a labour inspection manual has been prepared for inspectors to detect and protect children from child labour in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy.

We welcome the Government’s use of the D document, and the information it provided on progress made so far in its written submission. We note that the Government highlighted three actions that it is undertaking to close the gap between the scope of application and application in practice, and this being: extending the labour advisory services in the informal sector; strengthening the labour inspectorate system in the country to make it accessible to all enterprises and workplaces; and taking initiative to the national child labour survey of 2015.

The Employers commend the Government for taking these measures which we believe are positive and a step in the right direction towards closing the gap. The Minimum Age Convention is one of the most important instruments to combat child labour, along with the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182). It is important that it is applied to children working in all sectors of economic activity, not just the formal ones, and specifically it should address those informal sectors and family businesses where child labour is most common and often tolerated.

We fully support the Committee’s recommendations for the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that all children under 14 years of age benefit from the protection in the Convention. We also trust that the actions taken by the Government will yield concrete results and we encourage the Government to report any updates at the next Committee of Experts meeting scheduled for November 2019.

The second issue, as observed by the Committee of Experts, is the age of completion of compulsory school. Here the observation is that Ethiopia rather lacks free and compulsory education for children. There is also low attendance and enrolment rate as well as a very high percentage of school dropouts. We recall that Article 2(3) states that the minimum age specified in pursuance of paragraph 1 of this Article shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling, and in any case shall not be less than 15 years.

The Committee of Experts indicates from the UNICEF statistics that only around 65 per cent of children attend primary schools and only 15 per cent of them continue to secondary school. A staggering more than 2.8 million children have dropped out of school. Statistics also show that there are more working children dropping out of school than those who do not work and this correlation is a clear indication of the impact child labour has on children’s access to education. The Experts urge the Government to take the necessary measures to provide compulsory education, to increase school enrolment and decrease the number of dropouts among children under 14 years of age.

We welcome the information provided by the Government on this issue. The Government has indicated that it has started the process of drafting legislation, which aims at making primary education compulsory. In addition, we note that the Government has noted that some positive results have already been achieved in terms of the universalization of primary education, including an increase in the number of primary schools from 33,373 to 36,466; full achievement of the net enrolment rate for primary school levels; an increase in gender parity index from 0.7 to 0.9; and a decrease in the drop-out rate from 18 per cent to 9 per cent.

Furthermore, we are pleased that the Government has provided access to mobile schools for children of pastoral and semi-pastoral communities. In our view, this is particularly important as access to education is essential not only for the development of children’s individual well-being but also for the well-being of the country.

More concretely, education and training can improve the skills of the young generation who can later contribute to the overall economic development of the country when they legally enter the workforce. So, we agree with the Committee of Experts’ view that compulsory education is one of the most effective means of combating child labour. To this end, it is essential that all children, regardless of gender, class or age, should have access to free and compulsory primary and secondary education.

Finally, we welcome the Government’s willingness to explore further ways of improving the accessibility, equity, efficiency, quality and financing of primary education in pursuit of the ultimate goal of achieving primary education for all in Ethiopia. We encourage the Government to consult with the most representative workers’ and employers’ organizations in Ethiopia in this process.

The final issue observed by the Experts is the minimum age for admission to and determination of hazardous work, in legislation and practice. This issue concerns a significant number of children under 18 years of age who are engaged in hazardous work in Ethiopia. Article 3 of the Convention requires that the minimum age for admission to any type of employment or work, which by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to jeopardize the health, safety or morals of young persons, shall not be less than 18 years. Based on the Child Labour Survey, the Experts report that 23 per cent of children are engaged in hazardous work on an average of 42 hours per week. They also report that the youngest group of children in the age range of 5–11 years is engaged in relatively longer hours than other age groups. In their observations, the Committee of Experts urges the Government to strengthen its efforts to prohibit children under the age of 18 years from engaging in any forms of hazardous work. The Government has previously indicated that the Decree of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of 2 September 2017 would revise the list of hazardous work and general prohibition of dangerous work for children. We welcome the information provided in this regard by the Government indicating that some progress has been made on this issue. In particular, a revision of the national Labour Law to raise the age limit of young workers from 14–17 to 15–17 years old, as well as a directive that prescribes the list of activities prohibited to young workers, which was revised in consultation with the social partners in Ethiopia. We recommend in this regard the Government to provide copies of these instruments and to report updates on the progress made to the Committee of Experts at its next meeting.

The Employers strongly condemn the engagement of children in any form of child labour, especially where such activity also constitutes hazardous work. Being one of the most vulnerable groups in society, children need adequate protection and care from any type of work that poses serious physical and mental risks. The development of children, especially in terms of their education, is a worthy investment that any country would be remiss not to make. For governments to continuously work to eliminate child labour including hazardous work, while improving access to education for children is a moral imperative and a building block for future stable, economically productive societies. We urge Ethiopia to continue on the path of reform, by demonstrating full commitment to the Convention in its national laws and practice.

Worker member, Ethiopia – I will provide my comments on the observations of the Committee of Experts on the Ethiopia case on behalf of the Confederation of Ethiopian and Trade Unions (CETU). First of all, I would like to appreciate the observations of the Committee of Experts on the application of the Convention in Ethiopia. The situation of under-aged children working is a challenge in Ethiopia. However, we are optimistic that things will improve very soon. Our optimism is based largely on the new political dawn that Ethiopia is witnessing. The current Government is also conscious of the incidence of child labour and has demonstrated and continues to demonstrate real intentions to overcome it.

Regarding the observations of the Committee of Experts on the gap between the scope of application of the Convention and the domestic laws, the Labour Law does not protect all children working outside the formal employment relationship, such as working on their own account or in the informal economy. As a matter of fact, the existing Labour Law does not apply to the informal sector.

With regard to compulsory education up to the minimum age of admission to employment of 14 years, the Ethiopian Education and Development Roadmap for the period 2018–30 is drafted and under discussion. It contains provisions to provide compulsory education up to grade eight. Furthermore, the recently revised Labour Law, which is submitted to the Parliament for approval, raises the minimum working age limit of young persons from 14 to 15 years. We want to inform this Committee that we participated actively in the amendment process as a member of Ethiopian social partners. Additionally, to exclude and withdraw children that are already employed and engaged in hazardous work, a directive which prescribes the list of activities to prohibit young workers was published in 2013 and circulated for the stakeholders to which we participated as representative of workers.

We have observed that, based on the severity and profoundness of the incidence of child labour, the Government will need to be assisted and supported to mount and implement a sustained effort to defeat the problem of child labour. We, therefore, urge this Committee to agree on ways and the measures that the Ethiopian Government will be encouraged to continue in her quest to defeat child labour and better protect the rights of children.

In conclusion, the CETU wishes to reiterate its call on this Committee to continue to provide measures and the means compatible with benchmarks and evaluation mechanisms to the Government of Ethiopia necessary for the effective implementation of the provisions of this Convention. We are confident that this new Government will chart a path to the successful defeat of child labour in our country.

Another Worker member, Ethiopia – I am taking this chance on behalf of the Ethiopian Teachers Association, member of Education International which is a global teacher union federation of over 30 million members. I have read the observations and comments of the Committee of Experts which is very much useful in supporting Ethiopian children to remain in and/or attend school. It is, therefore, a huge cause for concern for us as teachers and parents when children who ought to be in schools are in farms and construction sites. This is because my organization, whose members are daily busy in nurturing children in schools, advocates for free and compulsory primary education.

Nevertheless, I wish to recognize the attempt that the Government of Ethiopia is making to provide education by allocating about 25 per cent of the annual government budget from its scarce financial resource due to its commitment to providing education to its citizen.

With a huge reform in the education sector that is under way by the current Government leadership, education and training policy of the country which existed for more than 25 years without amendment is under revision. This is supplemented by a strategy termed Ethiopian Education and Training Roadmap 2018–30. Let me, therefore, point out that we as the Ethiopian Teachers Association are excited that part of the reform agenda will have compulsory and free primary education for children up to 15 years of age. No doubt this measure will help children stay in schools and prevent them from being engaged in work.

While the plan to have free and compulsory primary education is a positive measure to move forward to support children, we will work with our Government as critical stakeholders to ensure that the high drop-out rates, gender parity challenge and that of quality education are addressed positively in the interest of the children.

Further, the Committee must impress on the Government the need to consciously and genuinely mobilize all stakeholders in the education sector so as to aggregate their contributions in providing quality education for the children. To be able to effectively aggregate the contributions of teachers, it is important that they are allowed and accorded the full and unbridged right to organize and freely associate. An organized and representative teachers’ voice will add value to education management and development in Ethiopia.

Employer member, Ethiopia – I would like to brief you on the background of our Federation first, and then go to air our statement. Convention No. 138 was of course ratified by the Ethiopian Government in 1999 and we have also seen and gone through the observation that the Committee of Experts have done. What we have mentioned earlier and what we are airing now is that the Experts have not seen what we have done the last two years. Recently we have achieved lots of programmes, awareness-creation trainings, and so on and so forth, to fulfil the situation on the ground. Of course all three issues have been discussed a lot in our Confederation. By the way, I am here as the President of the Ethiopian Employers’ Federation, which was following the matter for the last four years, and now we have transformed our Federation into a Confederation, naming it the Ethiopian Industry Employers’ Confederation.

The Confederation started seeing the observations and then tried to solve them from the grass-root level. The Ethiopian economy has been enjoying a double-digit growth for about ten years and now it is trying to maintain this, but the economy is a little bit shrinking for the last year and half or maybe two years. Because of that, a bigger appetite for employers was created, both at the formal and the informal market. The informal market of Ethiopia was to lead as a single mum-/parent-run business, with the family, and the other challenge in a low-resource economy where destabilization is still in its infancy, vital statistics are still mostly paperwork and distinguishing between 13-year-olds and maybe 17 year-old children will be very difficult. That has been observed even in our sportsmen and women. Knowing this, the Confederation has tried to do a lot from its side. Of course, the Government has also cooperated on this with us. With the new Government in power, a reform is being taken and lots of positive changes are coming into the mission, especially on the economy side. Having said this, I would like to go and air the statement as the Ethiopian Industry Employers’ Confederation.

The Ethiopian Industry Employers’ Confederation has conducted a child labour study in four regional states in large farm areas via its founding federation, the Ethiopian Employers’ Federation. Based on the recommendation of the study, it has conducted a number of awareness-creation programmes so that the employers will not hire children. The outcome of these programmes was a decline in the number of children working in large plantations. The Government of Ethiopia is also working to reduce the prevalence of child labour in the country and it has issued another law, which was discussed earlier by our social partners, which penalize employers who engage children in their firms. Recently, it has raised the minimum working age of youth from 14 to 15 years of age.

In addition to this, the Government has also expanded the primary school coverage in the country and thereby increased enrolment rates of primary education at a larger and significant amount. Poverty in Ethiopia is still prevalent. The Government is trying its best to boost the economy of the country by issuing a number of policies and programmes, which should be assisted by developed countries and developmental partners, like the ILO.

Thus, as I mentioned earlier, while the Experts pointed out three issues, we highly recommend that they come back and also see what we have been achieving the last couple of years as the Employers’ Confederation.

Government member, Romania – I am speaking on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The candidate countries: the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania as well as the EFTA country Norway, member of the European Economic Area and the Republic of Moldova and Georgia align themselves with this statement.

The EU and its Member States are committed to the promotion, protection and respect of human rights, as safeguarded by the fundamental ILO Conventions and other human rights instruments. We welcome the new universal ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the ILO Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), and continue to strive for universal ratification and implementation, including through dialogue with third countries.

A child is first and foremost a child and every single child has the right to grow up in a safe environment, with the right to education, with the right to a childhood free from abuse or any kind of exploitation. It is our collective responsibility to ensure those rights are respected. Provisions against child labour are part of the International Labour Organization’s core labour standards and ILO Members have an obligation to respect, promote and realize the principles concerning such fundamental rights.

The elimination and prevention of child labour is an important priority for the European Union and its Member States reflected in its core acquis. Commitment to protect the rights of the child is embedded in the Treaty of the European Union and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. The EU’s overreaching strategy to strengthen efforts to ensure every child, in particular, the most marginalized, is reached by EU policies and actions is set out in the EU Guidelines for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child, and implemented through many policies and projects undertaken in the region and worldwide.

We note with deep regret that child labour remains a prevalent problem in Ethiopia. The scale of the challenge is overwhelming. In the country, children aged 5 to 17 are more than a third of the total population and half of them are engaged in economic activities. Among them, 23 per cent are exposed to hazardous work. The number of children aged 5–13 years engaged in child labour was estimated at about 13 million with a higher representation of the youngest children. However, it should be noted that child labour in Ethiopia is one of the symptoms of pervasive poverty and its related problems, as shown by the fact that the majority of children performing activities were actually working as unpaid family workers, 95.6 per cent in the rural, informal economy.

The European Union and its Member States and Ethiopia have been engaged in development dialogue and cooperation for more than 40 years. We recognize the progress made towards eliminating child labour. Ethiopia has made important improvements to its policy and legislation on eliminating child labour by endorsing the National Children’s Policy in April 2018; developing Education Operational Response Plans for Oromia, Somali, and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region for the 2017–18 school year; and has issued a Young Worker’s Directive and has done so in partnership with UN agencies as well as NGOs to address the issue and related ones.

However, while the Labour Law Proclamation of 1993 prohibits the employment of persons under 14 years of age, its provisions do not cover work performed outside an employment relationship, such as children working on their own account or in the informal economy. Despite the fact that the Government of Ethiopia trained 110 labour inspectors on child labour issues in 2017, labour inspectorate is underfunded and still lacks very necessary means to ensure proper application.

Through development cooperation programmes such as the “Jobs Compact” to increase decent job opportunities in the country, we engage in policy dialogue with Ethiopia in order to strengthen labour law implementation, promote social dialogue and collective bargaining arrangements, conduct and disclose decent work country profile reports for Ethiopia.

The EU and its Member States support the Committee’s recommendations and urge the Government to take the necessary measures for all children under the minimum age of 14 to be fully protected by the Convention. To this end, the scope of law should be increased as to include work performed outside an employment relationship, in particular children working on their own account or in the informal sector. The capacity of the labour inspection should also be increased to tackle these issues, especially in the informal economy.

The comprehensive education of children also remains a challenge even if Ethiopia has already committed to achieve primary Education for All. According to UNICEF’s Demographic and Health Survey 2016, the primary school net attendance ratio for the population aged 7–14 is 71 per cent (72 per cent for girls and 71 per cent for boys). Rates are low even if considering that data do not fully capture access granted through “mobile schools” that are made available for children of pastoral communities. Importantly, the secondary school net attendance ratio drops drastically to only 18 per cent. Recognizing that compulsory education is one of the most effective means of combating child labour, we urge the Government to spare no effort to provide for compulsory education up to the minimum age of admission to employment of 14 years. We also encourage the Government to intensify its efforts to increase school enrolment rates and decrease drop-out rates in order to prevent child labour.

Additionally, we appeal to the Government to develop more comprehensive legislation on hazardous work to prohibit, in law and in practice, work in hazardous conditions for children under 18. As detailed in the report the rate of hazardous work among children aged 5–17 years is 23.3 per cent (28 per cent for boys versus 18.2 per cent of girls), which remains high. Moreover, rates are much higher in the rural areas. We urge the Government to address existing gaps in legislation in order to ensure compliance, both in law and practice.

Closely linked to the Convention, we are also deeply concerned that despite the continuous efforts, the worst forms of child labour also persist, in particular trafficking in children abroad and within the country for the purpose of domestic servitude, commercial sexual exploitation and exploitation in other worst forms. The Committee previously noted that there were approximately 6,500–7,500 child domestic workers in Addis Ababa, who were subject to extreme exploitation, working long hours for minimal pay or modest food and shelter, and that they are vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse. Although the EU and its Member States acknowledge the Government’s increased enforcement efforts, we ask the Government to devote more work to the fight against domestic human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation as a result of child trafficking and to ensure that effective and dissuasive penalties are imposed to those engaged in child trafficking.

The EU and its Member States will continue to cooperate with Ethiopia and stand ready to support the country in their continuous work towards achieving the sustainable elimination of all forms of child labour.

Government member, Mauritania – The delegation of Mauritania followed with interest the statement delivered by Her Excellency the Minister of Labour of the Republic of Ethiopia regarding the measures taken by her Government to give effect to the provisions of the Convention. This presentation apprised our honourable delegations of the important gains made by this country in the areas of social justice, the protection of children from anything likely to harm their physical, moral or psychological state and, generally speaking, all development sectors, especially those dedicated to promoting human rights.

Indeed, the statement demonstrates that the Government of Ethiopia has made herculean efforts to make the country’s labour inspection system more effective and efficient so that it covers the various types of enterprise, particularly those that are considered informal and therefore difficult to reach by the regular supervision of inspectors. These efforts should lead, in time, to the full implementation of the instruments ratified by the country, with special emphasis, because this is about the Convention, on reducing as far as possible all forms of child labour, as the Government remains convinced that a country that allows this scourge to persist, even on a small scale, condemns itself to forever lag behind the rest of humanity. Moreover, in order to boost these measures, the Government is working to ensure the transition from the informal to the formal economy, where the use of child labour is exceptional, if not non-existent.

In the wake of the implementation of the above-mentioned measures, Ethiopia is striving to expand access to education, ensure equity and improve the quality of the education offered, while making the provision of universal primary education to all children of school age an absolute priority, as indicated in the education sector development strategy. We can certainly all agree that this will help to strengthen the protection of children from child labour.

For all these reasons, the delegation of Mauritania believes that the Government of Ethiopia deserves to be encouraged and, if necessary, supported, to put into practice the ambitious policies it has adopted.

Worker member, Togo – I am speaking on behalf of the members of the Organization of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA). When children and young persons carry out hazardous work, the possibilities of their health and physical and moral well-being being impaired and endangered are immediate, direct and pronounced. It is also worrying to note that the consequences may sometimes be lasting and irreversible. According to the Committee’s report based on the survey of child labour, the proportion of children between 5 and 17 years of age employed in hazardous work is 23.3 per cent (28 per cent for boys compared with 18.2 per cent for girls). It is 9.2 per cent in urban areas compared with 26.4 per cent in rural areas. These figures are highly significant. Nevertheless, the report also contains some glimmers of hope, as shown by some of the specific measures taken by the Ethiopian Government to combat hazardous work for children. These include the provision of a detailed list of hazardous types of work and the general prohibition on any other kind of work likely to jeopardize the physical and psychological well-being of children, and also the reference to a subsequent revision of the list in the hope of further reducing hazardous work for children. These measures are laudable but certainly need to be improved by constant practice in order to ensure that children under 18 years of age involved in hazardous work in insalubrious environments are protected against such working arrangements.

The need to review and improve the labour inspection system, in particular in agriculture and in rural areas, should be given urgent consideration and set in motion. We consider that the Ethiopian Government should make greater efforts to ensure real progress in practice through the combination of an effective labour inspection system and ongoing public awareness-raising. A more sincere expression of the desire to tackle this menace will be visible if Ethiopia ratifies the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81).

Moreover, the trafficking of children is a source of serious concern. In Ethiopia, the Committee noted measures taken by the Ethiopian Government to deal with this scourge. These measures are commendable, in particular the adoption of the 2015 law against trafficking in persons, which, inter alia, establishes the penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment for human trafficking, including the trafficking of children. Consequently, we wish to urge the Ethiopian Government to guarantee the effectiveness of these measures by ensuring that the security forces tasked with action against trafficking, on the one hand, and officers of the judiciary, on the other hand, are adequately trained and provided with the necessary resources to be able to identify, investigate and prosecute perpetrators and to apply effectively the penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment for persons trafficking children abroad and within the country for the purposes of domestic servitude, commercial sexual exploitation and exploitation in the worst forms of child labour.

The rehabilitation and reintegration of the victims of trafficking in persons must be a priority. The Ethiopian Government must be urged to establish and provide funding for care centres for victims so that they can receive medical and psychological assistance geared to their age.

Government member, Switzerland – Switzerland agrees with the points raised by the European Union and would like to add a few of its own. The elimination of child labour, in which Convention No. 138 plays a role, is one of the most important objectives of the ILO. Switzerland attaches great importance to this fundamental Convention, and also to the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Despite the efforts made to fight child labour in the world, particularly through legislation, many children often still work in difficult conditions, especially in the informal economy.

While recognizing the great efforts made by the Ethiopian Government to eliminate child labour and to make primary education compulsory, the number of children between 5 and 13 years of age who are working remains high. The low school enrolment rate is also a major source of concern.

Switzerland commends the progress made in Ethiopia in recent months, in particular at the political level. With this in mind, it encourages the Ethiopian Government to continue its efforts and to take all necessary steps as soon as possible to fix the minimum age for admission to employment in accordance with Convention No. 138.

It is also crucial to ensure that children who work outside an employment relationship enjoy the protection established by the Convention. At the same time, the capacities of the labour inspectorate must be reinforced in this respect.

Lastly, Switzerland encourages the Government to fix the age of compulsory education in a clear manner in accordance with the terms of the Convention and to step up its efforts to eliminate all forms of child labour.

Government member, Senegal – On behalf of Senegal, I would like to thank the Ethiopian delegation for the information it has kindly provided to the Committee. The Government of Ethiopia has informed us of its concerted efforts to strengthen its labour inspection system in order to make it accessible to all enterprises and places of work to ensure full implementation of the Convention and national labour legislation. Particular emphasis has been placed on combating child labour and forced labour. We hope that these measures will soon be fully operational with a view to ensuring the protection provided for under the Convention.

In addition, Senegal notes that the Ethiopian Government has informed the Committee of the planned measures to improve access to and the quality of education. We strongly encourage the Government to continue these efforts and urge it to develop the programmes planned in this regard.

Furthermore, we welcome the measures taken by the Ethiopian Government regarding the revision, with its social partners, of the list of types of work to which workers, and particularly children, should not be exposed.

In view of all the efforts made by the Ethiopian Government, Senegal appreciates the commitment demonstrated by the country and invites the Committee to take these initiatives into account in its conclusions. Senegal also requests the Office to support Ethiopia to implement programmes and projects that give full effect to the principles set out in the Convention.

Government member, Morocco – First of all, I would like to thank the Government of Ethiopia for the information it has provided, which demonstrates the effort made by the country to respond to the various comments and observations made in this regard by the Committee of Experts.

Indeed, the comments of the Committee of Experts address a number of subjects directly related to the implementation of the Convention, particularly with regard to: the number of children working in the informal sector; the obligation to provide free education; and the prohibition of hazardous work for minors.

The Minister of Labour of Ethiopia indicated in her intervention that significant measures have been taken by the Government with regard to legislation, the strengthening of labour inspection, and education and training. These various measures demonstrate the desire of the Government of Ethiopia to bring its national law and practice into line with the provisions and principles of the Convention. To this end, we support the efforts made by the Government of Ethiopia and encourage it to continue in that regard.

Observer, Education International (EI) – Education workers welcome the Government’s information about the current legislative process of extending the age of compulsory schooling which will become the minimum age for employment. Teachers also welcome the Minister’s commitment that the Government intensifies efforts to invest in new school infrastructure and in training opportunities, to increase school enrolment rates, and to decrease dropouts, particularly focusing on girls.

As representatives of teachers worldwide we know that making schools more attractive and learning more relevant are key in eradicating child labour. Increased public funding to make more educational institutions available, completely free of charge, to children and youth, particularly those from disadvantaged and marginalized communities, is a priority.

Providing professional development programmes to headmasters and teachers is also important to raise awareness on child labour in education settings and among communities and parents. Schools are at the heart of communities and having the whole education stakeholders commit to make schools welcoming and relevant to working and out-of-school children makes a real difference. But teachers must be trained to interact with children and students who have been exploited, or those who have never come to school. The practice of corporal punishment for example needs to be addressed. Education and training are also central components of rehabilitation programmes.

Education unions have developed expertise in supporting education authorities, at local and national level, to develop plans of action to eradicate child labour. Education unions also develop programmes on health education to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and other transmittable diseases.

But as stated by the representative of the Ethiopian Teachers Association, unions are willing to share their expertise and partner, through social dialogue, with the Government and with employers to help and support children and youth whose education is hampered by child labour practices.

However, in Ethiopia today, teachers do not yet enjoy the right to form a union. The Ethiopian Teachers Association affiliated to Education International is a professional association and not yet a union. The Labour Act should therefore be reviewed to allow teachers, as public servants, to form unions and enter into collective bargaining to address issues such as child labour.

We trust that with the technical assistance requested by the Minister, the new Government will implement robust and time-bound programmes to meet the recommendations of the Committee of Experts.

Education International supports the initiatives taken by the current Government to defend and promote the human rights of children, including the right to quality, inclusive public education for all. Education International will also continue to advocate for freedom of association and collective bargaining rights being extended to Ethiopian teachers.

Worker member, France – In this predominantly agricultural country, most rural families cannot afford to send their children to school because parents believe that if children are in school they can neither contribute to household chores nor work. Despite this alarming finding, which was confirmed by the experts’ report, Ethiopia has nevertheless made tangible progress in the education sector; the system has grown from 10 million learners a decade ago to more than 25 million today. To further strengthen this upward trend, Ethiopia has developed a sectoral programme covering the period 2015–16 to 2019–20, the Education Sector Development Programme, which is guided by the vision of maintaining momentum, improving equal access and broadening quality general education.

Nevertheless, despite evidence that the current Government is promoting educational emancipation as a guarantee of all-round development, it remains clear that there is a gap between the determination that seems to motivate the Government and implementation on the ground. We note with concern that, beyond the issue of education in general and despite the National Action Plan for Gender Equality, which was implemented by the Government from 2005 to 2010, educational disparities between girls and boys remain significant. Sixty-four per cent of young Ethiopians are illiterate, 77 per cent of whom are girls. While there has been progress in access to education at all levels in Ethiopia, men are the main beneficiaries. This observation on the application of the minimum age highlights various difficulties that exacerbate the consequences of non-application of Convention No. 138 in that gender equality is not respected.

Ethiopia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1981. However, the country has not ratified its Optional Protocol or the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. Beyond the unavoidable need to legislate in the field of education to establish free and compulsory schooling, it is clear that legislation must also combat all forms of discrimination, including gender discrimination, and this legislative work to draw up an education code accompanied by programmes to combat all forms of discrimination must be done in full and genuine consultation with the social partners, particularly trade union organizations.

The consultations we are advocating must guarantee a constructive social dialogue that promotes values that are likely to bring about the social changes essential to the country’s development, through the education of its young people. I would therefore request you, Mr Chairperson, to highlight in your conclusions the seriousness of the case that has hampered the country’s future. I also hope that you will offer the Government adequate technical assistance from the Office to help it update its legislation to bring it into line with the standards, with a view to informing us of substantial progress as early as next year.

Government member, Algeria – Algeria would like to thank Ethiopia for presenting its report. We note with satisfaction the progress made in implementing the recommendations of the Committee of Experts to combat child labour and respect the minimum age of admission to employment.

Algeria would like to commend the measures taken by Ethiopia to prevent and combat violence against children with a view to fully respecting children’s rights. In addition, the Algerian delegation would like to congratulate Ethiopia on its efforts to strengthen the labour inspection system in order to promote the full application of the Convention. We particularly appreciate the open and constructive attitude of the Ethiopian Government in its efforts to amend the labour legislation in this area.

Algeria believes that the Office should take into account national realities and specific circumstances in its assessment of the application of the Convention. The Office should also plan to support Ethiopia in its social mobilization against child labour, with particular emphasis on the need to integrate child labour issues into national policies and strategies for sustainable development.

Government member, Mozambique – Mozambique would like to congratulate the Government of Ethiopia for the comprehensive report it has provided on the measures taken to address child labour issues. The Government of Mozambique noticed that the Government of Ethiopia has revised its labour laws in consultation with the social partners towards addressing child labour issues among others. We want to commend Ethiopia in this regard. The Government of Ethiopia is also committed to expanding universal primary education for all and legislative achievements in this regard seem to be impressive. Mozambique would want the Office to walk with the Government of Ethiopia and the social partners in addressing any issues that may be outstanding.

Worker member, South Africa – We are excited about the recent developments and promising news coming out of and from Ethiopia as a result of the renewed and focused dedication of the current Government to improve the social, economic and political situation in the country. It is from this background that we make this intervention so that the children can also be direct and real beneficiaries of the intentions of the Government to improve the situation on the ground. Given the various figures, the Committee of Experts’ Report pointed to the number of children engaged in child labour, those not in school and those that dropped out of school for sundry reasons. One can see that the situation of children in Ethiopia is dire and profound. Of course the Report did not talk about the 120,000 street children in major cities, notably Addis Ababa, that are begging for survival. Thus, one can infer that dealing with the plight of children in Ethiopia will need a concerted, real, steadfast, strategic and well-resourced response which in fact is doable and winnable.

In terms of a concerted response, the Ethiopian Government is urged to consider infrastructure and amenities development in rural areas so as to check the influx of rural dwellers to the city. Most of these new city arrivals have been reported to deploy their children onto the streets as beggars, largely because they were led by the push to see and feel the good life of the city. When children are subjected to hard and harsh conditions, their physiological, mental and social development are arrested and their future can be blank and blighted.

Further, for economies such as Ethiopia, striving for a better and developed society, the children, as its heritage, resource and future must be protected and secured. We are excited that the Ethiopian Government has pledged its commitment to include the national minimum wage adoption in application in its proposed labour law reforms process. This is because we know that aside from the fact that concentrated infrastructure development lures people away from the rural areas to the cities, poor wages equally drive migration and movement from rural to urban areas and also induce and exacerbate child labour. It is equally imperative that the Ethiopian Government considers upscaling its labour inspection duties so as to be able to better identify, reverse and tame child labour. In the cases where children are engaged in workplaces and by unscrupulous employers, an effective and responsive labour inspection regime will be able to identify, investigate and sanction such offenders.

Government member, Namibia – Namibia takes note of the several legal instruments that were adopted by the Government of Ethiopia since 2013. This is a step in the right direction as the legal instruments will assist the eradication of child labour, forced labour and human trafficking in Ethiopia. The results as presented by the Government of Ethiopia in their reply today, on the universalization of primary education, it yielded positive results as there are increases in both the number of primary schools and the net enrolment rate as well as improvement in the drop-out rate.

The efforts undertaken by the Government of Ethiopia in the advancement of the application of Convention is commendable. Thus, we encourage the ILO to avail technical assistance to compliment the Government’s robust efforts to strengthen the labour inspectorate system in the country and ensure the full application of the Minimum Age Convention. Finally, the Committee in its conclusions should take into to consideration the efforts taken by the Government of Ethiopia.

Government member, Zimbabwe – The Government of Ethiopia has informed us of the concerted efforts that they have made to strengthen Ethiopia’s labour inspectorate system, so as to ensure that related services are more effectively accessible to all enterprises and workplaces towards the full application of the Convention and enforcement of national labour laws, with a distinct focus on child labour, forced labour and human trafficking. We derive full confidence from indications given that this will soon be fully operational in compliance with the protections laid down in the Convention.

The Government of Zimbabwe further notes that the Government of Ethiopia has informed this Committee about the modalities that it is going to employ to expand access to education and also to improve the quality of education for its people. This is a development which other governments are encouraged to emulate. Most significantly, it is encouraging to note that the Government of Ethiopia has also provided information to the effect that it is currently revising its labour laws with a view to setting the minimum age for admission into employment. This is a positive development which will go a long way in enhancing compliance with the Convention, which forms the basis of our discussion.

The Government of Ethiopia has informed this august house that it worked with social partners in revising the list of the hazardous work to which children and young people should not be subjected. This in itself demonstrates that the Government of Ethiopia has not only embraced the principle of social dialogue, but also applies it when addressing socio-economic issues, including child labour situations.

Finally, the Government of Zimbabwe applauds the readiness of the Government of Ethiopia to continue working with its social partners and indeed with the ILO in implementing programmes and projects that give effect to the principles enshrined in the Convention.

Government member, Nigeria – Nigeria takes the floor to support the progress made by the Government of Ethiopia in improving the application of the Convention. As already presented, the Government of Ethiopia has embarked upon an ambitious Labour Law reform aimed at addressing the observed gaps and discrepancies with a view to reinforcing the existing capacity of labour inspection in the informal sector of its economy. This will go a long way to protecting the rights and improving the general working conditions of workers as well as reducing the prevalence of child labour. Ethiopia has also embarked on improvement of its children school enrolment rate in recent years through the adoption of the Education and Training Policy and the Education Sector Development Programmes, respectively. The adoption of the School Feeding Programme as done in Nigeria is another laudable programme of the Ethiopian Government aimed at improving the school enrolment rate as well as a reduction in the rate of dropouts. Furthermore, the establishment of mobile schools in line with the demands of its pastoral communities further attests to the Government’s desire to improve on the education opportunities to children of all ages regardless of their socio-cultural background. In the matter of the minimum age of admissibility to work and the determination of hazardous work, Ethiopia has also made appreciable progress as presented in the current review of its national Labour Law exercise that has raised the minimum working age of young persons from 14 to 15 years. In the light of the foregoing, Nigeria is of the view that these programmes and reform measures should be given the opportunity to take root with a view to complying with the required standard of the Committee.

Government member, Angola – The Government of Angola acknowledges that Ethiopia has made great efforts with regard to Convention No. 138 through the strengthening of the labour inspection system, regulation in the informal sector and implementation of the education programme. Our Government therefore encourages Ethiopia to continue to make progress.

Government member, Egypt – First of all, we would like to thank the representative of the Government of Ethiopia for the information provided with regards to the implementation of the Convention. We have taken note of all the measures adopted by the Ethiopian Government in order to respect, in practice, the provisions of this extremely important Convention and we await the review of the Labour Code and the strengthening of the labour inspections system ensuring coverage of the informal and formal sectors. We also await news of the further developments of the national education strategy to reduce dropouts and increase schooling levels. We also welcome the recognition of the principle of social dialogue in Ethiopia and all of its dimensions. So we wish to underscore our appreciation of all the initiates taken by the Government and urge the ILO to take all measures necessary to support the Government in its efforts to ensure full respective of the Convention.

Government member, Uganda – My delegation has taken note of the steps that the Ethiopian Government is taking to improve application of the Convention, which include among others, the education road map and it informs the municipal laws to bring them into conformity with international labour standards. The Ethiopian Education Programme will go a long way in addressing the problems of lack of access to education which is a key driver for eliminating all forms of child labour. We urge the Ethiopian Government to continue on the path and therefore call upon the Committee to take note of the progress made.

Government member, Kenya – The Kenyan delegation welcomes the comprehensive statement made by the Government representative from Ethiopia in regard to the issues raised by the Committee regarding the country’s compliance with the provisions of the ratified Convention. We have taken careful note of the statement and are encouraged by the efforts that are under way with a view of ensuring full compliance with the Convention. Just like many other developing countries, various challenges sometimes impede the full realization of the objectives of the Convention, but what is needed is unwavering commitment on education to overcome the challenges, something which the Ethiopian Government has demonstrated in its statement. The Kenyan delegation wishes to call upon this Committee to exercise a little patience with the Ethiopian Government and allow it to complete the various reforms and programmes that are being undertaken with respect to the Committee’s observations.

Finally, because of the ambitious and expansive nature of some of the programmes, it will be useful for the Organization working with the Government to consider areas where technical cooperation support can be availed to help in addressing the identified gaps.

Government representative – I have been listening carefully to the discussion inspired on our case. I would like to thank the social partners and those governments for their constructive interventions that are insightful for advancing the application of the Convention in point. We have benefited a lot from the discussion that will help us to improve our effort to mitigate the gaps so far identified by the Committee with respect to child labour.

As the survey was done in 2015, a lot has been done by the Ethiopian Government but still we have a long way to go and we are left with assignments to do. Considering that lack of awareness among the public is contributing to child labour, we have been organizing campaigns to mark the annual Day Against Child Labour– which is today – to sensitize the public with the aim to promote an integrated approach to tackle the root causes of child labour and engagement of stakeholders including our social partners to strengthen workplace safety and health for all workers with the specific safeguarding to young workers between the ages of 15 and 18. That said, I would like to reflect on some of the issues raised in the house.

So one of the issues raised is related to free and compulsory education in Ethiopia. Let me be clear on this point, achieving universal primary education is one of the public policies in Ethiopia and public spending on education has increased over the decades. In this regard, beside the interventions that I have mentioned earlier, the education sector has been receiving more than 24 per cent of the total national expenditure meeting the global benchmark which is 20 per cent of the national budget spent on education as put forth by Education for All. This is an impressive achievement which calls for maintaining a share of Government expenditure being spent on education.

Though I have mentioned some progress earlier, it is important to mention some of the unexpected reforms made by the Government that could tell us that it is not impossible to change any backlogs that we had. My Government in this regard is working a profound reform journey and working strongly to empower women in education, politics and economy believing that empowering women is empowering the society in which children would enjoy fully their rights to education, health-care and other social services.

In cognizance of this, it is just recently that 50 per cent of the Cabinet members become women, of which I am one of them. Besides, for the first time in Ethiopian history, a woman has been appointed as a President of the country. It is in this reform movement that both the President of the Supreme Court and Spokesperson of the House of Federation become women. Such a reform was never told of to happen in the past. This political empowerment of women will lay down a foundation for other reforms for women in different spheres that could bring a significant change in the lives of society in general and the lives of children and girl children specifically.

It is my stronger conviction that the profound reform that is taking place in Ethiopia would help to change the prevailing scenario of child labour in line with the national and international instruments that intend to protect them. I would also like to inform the Committee that Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 4 which aims at ensuring an inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all, are integrated into our national development plan and progress has been made in this regard.

In conclusion, I would like to once again affirm the commitment of my Government for the full application of the Convention in point taking into account the discussions inspired in this august house and we are open for the ILO’s technical support and other development partners’ assistance in this regard.

Employer members – Having listened to all the submissions from the Government and the interventions from the Workers as well as from the floor, as Employers, we are encouraged that significant progress has been and is being made by Ethiopia in harmonizing its national laws and practice with the Convention.

We are equally encouraged by the commitment of the Ethiopian Employers’ Confederation to work closely with the Government to ensure that employers do not take any under-age child into employment. We believe this will go a long way to tackling and finally eradicating the problem of child labour in Ethiopia. The Employers recognize that child labour deprives children of their childhood, their dignity and it is often harmful to their physical and mental development. With a global record of 152 million children in child labour and 73 million of them in hazardous work, it is one of the most serious challenges we face today in the world. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has called upon the international community to respond urgently to this challenge. In particular, we note that under the SDG on decent work and economic growth, all countries commit to achieving target 8.7, namely “take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour and modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers and by 2025 child labour in all its forms”. Convention No. 138 provides the legal framework for the elimination of child labour. As primary objective, as indicated in Article 1, is the pursuit of a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour and to raise progressively the minimum age for admission to employment or work to a level consistent with the fullest physical and mental development of young persons. This Convention, together with Convention No. 182, constitutes the most authoritative international normative framework to address this problem. We welcome the Government’s commitment to full application of the Convention and its willingness to seek support from the ILO and other partners in combating child labour. Considering the severity of the present situation in Ethiopia, we suggest that the Committee recommend the Government of Ethiopia to take the following actions: first, the Government should strengthen its national legal framework and enforcement of laws aimed at abolishing child labour, including the periodic review and update of a national list of hazardous work prohibited for all children. This should be done in consultation with the most representative employers’ and workers’ organizations in that country. The Government should also seek to align its legal framework with the policies relevant for the eradication of child labour in line with the Convention.

Second, the Government should strengthen the capacity of labour inspectorate and other enforcement services, regarding both material and human resources, and conduct training for inspectors to better detect and address child labour to promote and ensure compliance with legislation. Third, the Government should strengthen its policies aimed at ensuring equal access to free, public and compulsory education for all children in quality and inclusive education systems. Furthermore, the Government should seek technical assistance from the ILO in developing a plan to promote lifelong skills training, quality apprenticeships and a smooth school-to-work transition for its youth population. Finally, the Government should deepen its efforts to promote partnerships with employers’ and workers’ organizations and other relevant stakeholders to eliminate and prohibit child labour through social dialogue and strong cooperation. While we believe that the situation of child labour in Ethiopia is very serious, we recognize that the Government of Ethiopia has demonstrated its commitment and desire to combat this issue head on. With technical assistance from the ILO and support from the international community, we have confidence that the Government of Ethiopia will be able to implement the recommendations of the Committee and to fully apply the Convention.

Worker members – I would like to thank all the speakers, and in particular the representative of the Ethiopian Government for the information she was able to provide to our Committee.

Ethiopian children are the future of the country. It is therefore essential to provide them with a basic education that will enable them to make a significant contribution to the country’s social and economic development. Guaranteeing them this basic education involves removing them from employment in scrupulous observance of the Convention.

Regarding the scope of application of the legislation on the prohibition of child labour, it is essential that an explicit provision in the Labour Law specifies that the provisions on the prohibition of child labour apply beyond contractual employment relationships and cover both workers in the informal economy and those working on their own account. A legal provision that explicitly extends the scope of this legislation to these categories of workers will also legitimize the action of the inspection services.

Capacity-building for labour inspection, particularly in the informal economy, seems to us to be essential. Compliance in practice with the prohibition of child labour can only be achieved by setting up an inspection body that has the necessary resources to ensure the effectiveness of its action. Moreover, the Government itself has called for assistance from the Office to work on building the capacity of these inspection services.

It would also be useful for the Ethiopian Government to share the results obtained by the inspection services in the informal sector in terms of combating child labour. In the information provided to us by the Government, many initiatives are highlighted to demonstrate that progress has been made in improving the coverage of legislation relating to child labour. However, in this information provided in writing to the Committee, we do not find any government initiatives aimed at filling the legislative gaps identified with regard to the scope of application of legislation concerning child labour.

However, we have heard that draft legislative reforms to address these gaps are being developed. It would be useful for the Government to provide any relevant information in writing to the Committee of Experts. Accordingly, we call on the Government to implement a legislative amendment that aims to extend the application of the legislation beyond employment relationships that are established under a contract of employment.

As we have seen, there is a close link between compulsory education and the abolition of child labour. It is therefore essential that Ethiopia introduce compulsory schooling at least up to the minimum age for admission to employment, namely 15 years of age. In this regard, it is encouraging that the Government has announced the introduction of a bill to raise the age of admission to employment in Ethiopia from 14 to 15 years of age. We hope that this legislative amendment will come to fruition.

The Ethiopian Government has also confirmed that a legislative process is under way to make primary education compulsory. We will closely monitor the effective implementation of this compulsory education and we invite the Government to provide any information in this regard in the future. This will be a welcome step. It will then be necessary to continue these reforms and make education compulsory up to 15 years of age in order to ensure full compliance with the Convention in this regard.

Hazardous work is also an issue in Ethiopia. Many young children are still engaged in such work. The existing list of hazardous and prohibited types of work for children under 18 years of age is currently being revised. The Ethiopian Government will ensure that it consults the social partners during the revision of this list. Beyond the drawing up of such a list, the necessary measures should be taken to ensure that, in practice, children under 18 years of age are no longer employed in hazardous activities.

We are confident that the Government will take seriously our Committee’s call for the establishment of a genuine national policy for the effective abolition of child labour in Ethiopia. Child labour is still present on a massive scale in Ethiopia, and it is time to reverse this trend.

The Ethiopian Government can rely on the desire of everyone present in this room to assist it in this colossal challenge, which nevertheless must be faced. The Government has expressed its openness to receiving technical assistance from the Office. We welcome the constructive spirit demonstrated by the Government to engage in resolving the shortcomings that we cannot fail to observe in the application of the Convention. We therefore recommend that the Ethiopian Government seek technical assistance from the Office.

Conclusions of the Committee

The Committee took note of the comprehensive information provided by the Government representative on the developments achieved so far, and on the remaining challenges and the discussion that followed.

Taking into account the Government submissions and the discussion that followed, the Committee urges the Government to:

- address gaps in the Labour Law and align the legal framework in consultation with workers’ and employers’ organizations, so as to ensure that the protection afforded by the Convention, covers all children under the age of 14 engaged in employment or work;

- strengthen the capacity of the labour inspectorate and competent services, including in terms of human, material and technical resources and training, particularly in the informal economy, with a view to ensuring effective protection and compliance with legislation;

- introduce legislative measures to provide free public and compulsory education up to the minimum age of admission to employment of 14 years, and ensure its effective implementation in practice without delay;

- improve the functioning of the educational system through measures that aim to increase school enrolment rates and to decrease drop-out rates;

- ensure the expeditious revision of the decree of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, of 2 September, 1997, in order to expand its application to children engaged in professional education in vocational centres. The Government is invited to avail itself of International Labour Organization (ILO) technical assistance in developing a plan to promote life-long skills training, quality apprenticeship and smooth transition from school to work for its youth population;

- take all necessary measures to ensure that in practice, children under 18 years of age, are not engaged in hazardous work in urban and rural areas, including the periodic update and review of the national list of hazardous work prohibited for all children;

- promote partnerships with employers’ and workers’ organizations and other relevant stakeholders, to eliminate and prohibit child labour through social dialogue and strong cooperation; and

- develop a time-bound action plan in consultation with the social partners, in order to progressively increase the age of admission to employment and compulsory education to 16 years.

The Committee encourages the Government to avail itself of ILO technical assistance to ensure the full and effective application of this fundamental Convention, and to report on the measures taken, to the Committee of Experts for examination at its next session in 2019.

Government representative – Allow me to thank once again the social partners and Governments for their constructive and forward-looking discussion on our case. While attaching high values to the outcomes of the discussion, I would like to reaffirm the commitment of my Government to take all possible measures towards the full implementation of the Convention with the aim to reduce and eliminate child labour in all its forms. In light of the above, we have taken note of the conclusions of the Committee and we request the Committee to give us a reasonably sufficient time to address child labour issues in Ethiopia which indeed are complex and require support of various development partners including the ILO.